PaaS and DBaaS: Bridging the Gap Between Developers, Operations

In the modern world of the cloud, developers and operations are still very much stuck in their own worlds. Often times, developers have no idea what happens on the operations side, and vice versa. Developers don’t pretend to have this understanding, and those on the production end remain very protective of their environment, resulting in common interaction hurdles between the two.

However, DevOps represents a paradigm shift, especially in the cloud: Developers and operations are running off the same framework and sharing the same infrastructure in the cloud. Because of this, it is of the utmost importance that developers and operations be on the same page and learn to work together.

With the rise of DevOps, Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solutions aim to simplify and bring together the world of developers and operations by attempting to put all the steps of developing and designing a product (developers), testing, as well as deploying (operations) together with a few clicks of a button. This eliminates the need to develop the application on one end, copy the code to a different QA engineer and product engineer for testing, and then copy once more to operations for the application to go live.

Databases are the most critical and complex component of the application stack and require the most advanced expertise to manage effectively in the dynamic cloud environment. Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) solutions, particularly when tied to PaaS solutions, effectively bridge the gap between developers and operations: They provide a zero-management and cost-effective solution for managing the DB in the production environment without requiring developers or operations to be bogged down by the management overhead of keeping the DB running smoothly (including ensuring its availability and scalability).

DBaaS becomes a core component to DevOps and a big piece of the PaaS puzzle: It stands as a pillar in modern DevOps, pulling the staging, testing and prototyping through the cloud without having to go from one database to another. With this, developers have no need for DB management expertise or engaging a DBA on staff, allowing them to truly focus their time and attention to their application.

Web application developers can choose from the various DBaaS add-ons offered by their PaaS of choice or, as many of them do, reach out to separate DBaaS companies on their own, connecting their DB instance with their application running on their PaaS.

By starting with a PaaS, developers find the best solutions for their application. This includes a database solution, monitoring solution, testing solution, and the list goes on. By piecing together each service, the bridge between developers and operations begins to form. Just as developers think “production” from the get-go, cloud services are designed to ensure smooth operations in the cloud.

Over time, and as PaaS solutions mature, they will encompass every need of the application developer and will eliminate the need for operations. Specifically in the cloud, developers are getting increasingly more capable of running their own show. PaaS solutions are evolving to encompass all of their operational needs. While DevOps is not out of the picture for highly complex or demanding applications or deployments, PaaS and DBaaS solutions certainly make the work a lot easier.

Solving the DevOps issue would be reflection of the many rising companies in the cloud environment: The cloud is about automated services and about benefitting from the economics of scale. PaaS and DBaaS solutions enable developers to focus on their code and on the business merit of their application, rather than worry about production issues or operations. Why not use as many services out there that are available to you instead of reinventing the wheel?

Razi Sharir (@razisharir) is CEO of Xeround, where he delivers on his more than 20 years of management experience in product/solution development.